Hello, I've been having a wonderful time wandering thru' this world of frugaldom; such a lot to read & beautiful photo's to look at. I guess I've always lived something of a frugal life, both out of necessity & choice. I'm very glad to have stumbled upon this forum; I think I found it at just the perfect time!!

Hi, I discovered your site a few weeks ago and subscribed to the newsletter. I'm 60 years old and married 36 years. We have always lived a frugal life but paid high apartment rent and electric heating costs living in the Philadelphia region.

My husband's 401k (retirement account) lost 80 percent of its value in 2009 and never recovered, so we have to find even more ways to cut expenses. The employer does not have a pension plan. I have earned a pension but cannot collect it for another 5 years. This interim period is what really worries me. Hubby has to retire due to advanced arthritis.

We had always planned on retiring to Florida, but when apartment rent increases topped 40 percent of our income, we chose to not wait until retirement. Last summer, we bought a small 2-bedroom fixer-upper home in central Florida that had been foreclosed. We try to do a little fixing up every payday.

I had planted a small garden of tomatoes, eggplant and bell peppers but was ordered to tear it out. Apparently, it is against HOA rules to "farm" even though my plot was only 3 feet wide running along the south (sunny) wall of the house.

I am permitted to grow any kind of veggies and herbs in flowerpots on the patio. I need help getting started without spending money. The patio faces north and is shaded most of the day by a neighbor's nut tree. Any free or almost free tips would be appreciated for containers, soil, growing kitchen waste, sunlight. I was growing directly in the sand, but I don't know if I need something else in a flowerpot.

Have a look about the forum and see if there's anything to help you in the gardening section. If you can't find the relevant discussion on container gardening, just give me a shout. If it helps, I've had my best success with courgettes (zucchini?), beetroot and other leafy vegetables growing them along my north facing wall.

Thanks for the info on what grows on the north side of your home. It's good to know leafy veggies will grow on a shaded patio. I like buttercrunch lettuce and cabbage. I'd like to grow parsley and sage since I use both almost every day. I enjoy homemade sage sausage.

I'm Lisa, a 40 year old full time mum to my 6 year old daughter and 4 year old son.
I discovered this forum after subscribing to frugaldom on my kindle and loving it.
Prior to having my children i worked full time then decided to be a stay at home mum until they went to school. That all changed when my husband and i decided to home educate our children, a wonderful crazy adventure we are loving every moment of.
Financially it means i now have to watch every penny so i'm very excited about being part of this forum.

Just thought I'd offer some support for Home Education as I home educated my son & daughter. They are now both adults & doing well with their lives. I was a single parent at the time with very little money. It's quite an adventure, so enjoy it!!

Thank you both for your lovely welcome.
We've been home educating for 18 months and we're starting to find a lovely balance now between my heart telling me unschooling is the best way and my head shouting at me to do some formal learning.
My username is taken from my children's nicknames,they're my inspiration for all things frugal in my desire to be able to stay at home with them so it felt like a good name to choose

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